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User blog:XXGingerheartXx/What NOT to do in your Warriors fanfic
Hello peoples! Now, this isn't my typical R.A.N.T, but it is... something. I'm going to start out by saying I have quite a few fanfiction pet peeves, ESPECIALLY for Warriors. Here's an example, over-exaggerated story plot and main character/villain. Plot: Moonshimmer just wants to help her Clan. But when she recieves a prophecy "The Moon's glow can destroy the Blade," she realizes that she must become leader and save the Clans! Character: '' ''Name: Moonshimmer Appearence: beautiful hot-pink she-cat with purple claws, a crescent moon on her forehead, and shimmering pink eyes that change color with her mood. '' ''Villain: Bladeshadows Appearence: black tom with blood red stripes and crimson eyes with long claws and fangs. '' Let's fix this story. '''Section One: Your Plot' Let's say you came up with a wonderful plot for your story. You're eager to write it. But check these real quick to make sure you don't end up making a trollfic or ExtremelyboringFic. 1. It makes sense. Don't make it too confusing for readers. For example, do not make this- "Lionpaw bounded across the moor, wind blasting through his pelt. Then he felt his lungs scream for air. His eyes closed as he sunk to a watery death in the lake." That certainly took a turn. WHAT?! Okay, yes, that was exaggerated. But still. Don't do it. 2. I wrote a song about half of fanfictions ever. It's called "Everything is Cliche." Please, please, PLEASE don't make either a) forbidden relationship as your main plot (Unless you know yours is really original and well developed), b) extremely dumb love triangles, c) that one kit that is rejected and hated by everyone and becomes leader later and or a killer, or d) Main character is important in exciting prophecy that saves everyone. Plot twist, please? I've seen way too many cliche fics like those above. 3. Don't make the plot obvious. Don't make the main character special and good and wonderful and the villain obvious from the first chapter. 4. Don't make the main obstacle in the story "he/she must become leader to save everyone!" That's. Not. An. Obstacle. 5. Speaking of obstacles, don't make your prophecy dreadfully obvious. If you can, some stories are actually better without prophecies. It really ticks me off when the author capitalizes the names in the prophecy. ''(For example, "The Eagle will find the Vole and defeat it. But beware: the Sky will rumble and Fire will scorch the forest." I can already see the characters being names Eagletalon, Volewhisker, Skyshine and Firepetal. You don't want that.) '''Section 2: Characters' 1. Names. Give them appropriate names. See section three for more detail on that. 2. Make their personalities interesting. One cat book I read (not Warriors but actually published) every character besides the mainie and the villain were flat. They were all suspicious, loyal, friendly, and generally happy. ...no. That is one of my biggest pet peeves: characters with no personality. It's fairly easy to make a character have one; message me if you're stuck. 3. Don't make your descriptions terrible. In other words: No blue eyes unless your cat has white somewhere on them (just because the Erins broke this rule doesn't mean you should). Cats can have golden, yellow, brown, blue, green, or orange eyes. They can have pink ONLY if they are albino. No "exotic" fur colors like purple, blue, or anything like that. It's weird to think of. It's a whole other story if they have darker fur that sometimes appears blue (like how I picture Mistystar) or purplish (like one of my characters) or even pink (like Heatherstar). Just use colors wisely and don't make every other cat "tinted blue." 4. For crying out loud, don't make them a Mary-Sue. No sparkling cats with rainbow eyes. Please. 5. Don't call a tom "handsome" or a she-cat "Beautiful," especially if they are significant to your plot. Section Three: Names 1. Please don't use things that are sacred to StarClan. Sure, Rainspirit, Starshimmer, and Silvermoon all sound really cool, but those are reserved for StarClan. I myself am guilty of making my very first OC named Silvermoon. Spirits, stars, and the moon are respected. Would you name your kid "God?" No. Oh, and cats don't know what angels and ghosts are. I think I saw an Angelpaw and Paleghost in a fanfic once. They know spirits, not angels. 2. Don't name them things cats don't know about. That includes Sapphiregleam, Diamondwish, And Radioactivetiger. They make your character stand out, yes, but cats don't know what gems are unless they are a former kittypet. 3. Nothing exotic. Since when do (Clan) cats know about zebras, monkeys, Palm trees, and oceans? Unless your made up Clan lives in an exotic setting, it's frankly annoying. 4. Try to not push the limit. Things used in the books are okay. Sometimes other things are too (Juniper, Ginger (he he), Tree, Twig) that haven't been used but been mentioned by cats. Also, keep the queens in mind. Ooh, you have an ultra scary villain named Bloodwater or Battlecry. But tell me, what queen names her kit Battlekit, hmm? Remember, there are not "illegal," but rather pushing it and being unrealistic. 5. Primroseflower. Juniperfeather. Extremelylongnamepelt. Avoid long names. 6. My biggest pet peeve: Yellowwing. Fireear. Leappelt. Leaffur. No. 7. Names say some things about the character: a pelt (Longfur, Firepelt, Brownstripe), an injury (Twistedleg, Crookedtail), a personality (Brightcloud, Leopardheart, Sweetrose), or a Clan (Mousesky, Moorwhisker, Marshcloud, or Ripplestream). Don't name a character Graypelt if it is a brown tabby. 8. Do you like the names Thunderbreeze, Stormwind, Darkshadow, and Rivershine? You shouldn't. Yes, they are pretty, but they use the names of the four Clans in them. Thunderbreeze of ThunderClan. That makes zero sense. Sky is fine because not many cats know about SkyClan. 9. Don't use Winterflight (another one of my original names in a fanfic- ugh), Autumnleaf, Summershine, or Springp- actually, using Spring as a suffix (Doespring) is okay because it isn't used as the season. Cats don't know what the seasons are. Do Leafbareflight and Leaffallleaf make any sense? 10. Don't use complex words in a prefix/suffix. For example: Raincloudfur. Sunrisemist. 11. Try to avoid names that scream "I'm the main character." or "I'm the antagonist." This includes Wish, Shimmer, Hope, Joy, Gleam, or anything extremely happy for protagonist. Avoid Darkness, Shade, Claw (for the most part), Blade, Cold, Evil, or death/dead in a "bad guy's" name. If you want to have suspense in your story, who seems more likely to save the Clans, Shimmeringjoy or Sparrowclaw? Who seems more likely to be a twisted, cruel villain: Deadheart or Brindlefern? You tell me. Fixing the terrible story Let's review here and fic up the story above. Instead of "She must become leader," how about something like "her family is dissapearing around her, and she must find out who is doing it before there is no one left." That's a better obstacle, don't you think? Just take the prophecy out in general. It's unneeded with this new plot. Moving on to the characters. Moonshimmer. Moon is not allowed, so let's change it to something more ordinary, like Ivy. Let's get rid of the -shimmer, too, and replace it with, say, cloud. Now we have Ivycloud, but let's change her appearence to something logical. How about a light brown tabby she-cat with dark green eyes? That sounds normal enough. And let's take out "beautiful." Now onto Bladeshadows. -Shadow is a clan name, so let's make it pool. Now, cats have no idea what blades are, so how about Dust? Now we have Dustpool, whose appearence can be easily changed to "dusky brown tom with a stumpy tail" or something. Now we haveour new story: Plot: Ivycloud is living a peaceful life. However, when her family is slowly dissapearing around her, far to convienent to be a coincidence. Now Ivycloud must find out who is doing this to her... quickly. Characters: Ivycloud: light brown tabby she-cat with dark green eyes Dustpool: dusky brown tom with a stumpy tail. Well, there you have it. I'm not hating on anyone or telling anyone what to do/write, I'm just making a list. Sorry if I sounded hateful, but that's what happens when I rant about things. :) 'And ignore the spelling mistakes. ' 'Ginger out. ' Category:Blog posts